Your Daily Phil: Can we debate without the senseless hate?
Add EJP on GoogleGood Wednesday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we reflect on the divides within the Jewish community — the baseless hatreds and the fruitful debates — ahead of Tisha B’Av. We report on the renewed legal fight dividing Mothers Against College Antisemitism, and cover the Israel Innovation Institute‘s push to bring its startup mentality to Jewish communal life. We feature an opinion piece by Pam Alcara reflecting on the lessons from her grandfather that have shaped her career in Jewish education, and Rabbi Derek Gormin reminds us that the relationship between Diaspora teens and Israel is not a one-way street. Also in this issue: Mark Oppenheimer, Amy Sorensen Ben-Dov and Jeff Schoenfeld.
Ed note: In observance of Tisha B’Av, the next edition of Your Daily Phil will arrive on Friday, July 24.
Today’s Your Daily Phil was curated by eJP Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross, Opinion Editor Rachel Kohn and Israel Editor Justin Hayet. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
This evening marks the start of Tisha B’Av, the fast day commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, among other tragedies. Jewish communities and organizations will be holding related events throughout the day.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD FROM eJP’S JUDAH ARI GROSS
We are living in a time of feuds, of division and polarization, and of dehumanization and ignorance. And we are also in a time of profound urgency, of both grave challenges and consequential opportunities.
And that combination represents a two-fold shame. It is a shame because the Jewish People — never a particularly large population — is unable to come together to most effectively address those challenges and take advantage of those opportunities. And it is also a shame because the increasingly sectarian divisions on display within Israel, the U.S. and world Jewry more broadly obscure the genuine, fruitful, principled debates that could help better inform the Jewish community’s path forward.
Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.
News
THE GREAT SCHISM
Legal fight renews over Mothers Against College Antisemitism
A legal battle between the founder of Mothers Against College Antisemitism, Elizabeth Rand, and the current board of directors over control of the popular Facebook group, which appeared to have been resolved, reignited this week with threats of a fresh lawsuit, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher reports.
Asset management: Rand, who previously told eJP that the Facebook group “will die with me,” had issued demands to the board of the nonprofit that grew out of the Facebook group before she would turn over control of it; the board, in turn, believes that it has full ownership of the 60,000-plus-strong Facebook group.
STARTUP NATION
Israeli innovation group turns its methodology toward Jewish communal life
An Israeli institute that has spent 15 years driving innovation in transportation, agriculture, health and climate is now turning that expertise toward a new frontier: Jewish communal life. The Israel Innovation Institute is now applying its innovation methodology to Jewish organizations for the first time, launching a new arm called the Global Jewish Innovation Network, or GJIN, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Justin Hayet.
Helping you do you: “We don’t come in saying, ‘We know your challenges,’” Rabbi Leor Sinai, who joined as senior vice president of global Jewish innovation and partnerships to build GJIN, told eJP. “You live there. But we’ve figured out a formula, based on our success, that we think we can copy-paste to the Jewish world.” He was equally clear about what the institute is not: “We’re not coming in and saying, here are the Jewish values through which you’ll innovate. We’re saying, this is what innovation looks like at the institute, and we can help you go down that road.”
Opinion
A GRANDFATHER’S LEGACY
The lesson can wait. The child cannot.
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Pam Alcara recounts how, even though he passed away when she was still a child, her grandfather’s example continues to inform her approach as a Jewish educator.
“When my grandfather helped build Jewish education in Chile, he was not only helping create a school. He was planting for children he might never teach, families he might never meet and generations whose Jewish lives would grow in ways he could not fully imagine. That image of planting has changed the way I understand both his legacy and my own work. Jewish education is not only what happens when a teacher opens a book. It is what happens when one generation creates the conditions for the next generation to feel that Judaism belongs to them.”
ISRAEL-DIASPORA RELATIONS
They come to strengthen their connection to Israel, but they strengthen Israel as well
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Rabbi Derek Gormin, managing director of programming and education for NCSY, reflects on a meaningful comment an IDF soldier made to teen participants on the Anne Samson Jerusalem Journey (TJJ) this summer.
“As educators, we often think about how to inspire teenagers. But one of the greatest moments of growth comes when they realize they are not simply recipients of the Jewish story — they are responsible for it. That is what happened on that hillside overlooking Lebanon. For the first time, many of our teens understood that their presence mattered, that they had something meaningful to contribute to the Jewish people.”
Worthy Reads
Winning Back Washington: In Foreign Policy, INSS’s Avishay Ben Sasson-Gordis and Theodore Sasson argue that Israel can rebuild bipartisan U.S. support, but only if it changes course. “A change in Israeli leadership is a vital first step, but deeper policy changes will also be needed, particularly in how Israel relates to the Palestinians. The opposition parties seeking to lead Israel after the national elections in October need to quickly make it clear that they intend to advance such changes.”
Save or Surrender: In his blog, Jewish Funders Network’s Andrés Spokoiny contends Jewish survival requires difficult decisions. “What can still be saved, and what must never be surrendered? Yavne reminds us that survival often requires flexibility, patience, institutional creativity, and the acceptance of partial victories. Masada reminds us that survival purchased at the cost of all dignity, agency, and purpose may become an empty achievement.”
Numbers Don’t Lie: In his eponymous Substack, Mark Oppenheimer pushes back against efforts to undermine PEN America’s recent report on antisemitism in publishing. “The people I know who have expressed the most skepticism to me about the PEN report are precisely those who in other contexts will express joy that there is a growing movement to boycott Israel, and who will defend cultural boycotts, despite their impact on individual artists who may have any kind of politics.”
Liquidity is Coming: In his Substack titled Funding Anthropalypse, Jack Lewars warns that an unprecedented wave of philanthropy — potentially hundreds of billions — is coming from AI-lab equity holders, and that the cost-effective giving ecosystem must urgently expand to absorb it well. “According to unpublished data from Giving What We Can, cost-effective giving moved about $2 billion last year. This means that, even if every organisation in the space grew 5x next year, it would still only handle a fraction of the expected windfall.”
Major Gifts
Yonatan Rom donated a kidney through the Israeli nonprofit Matnat Chaim and discovered that his recipient was the brother of the man who had saved his life in a 2002 terror attack in Gaza…
UJA-Federation of New York is allocating $150,000 total to support efforts by IsraAID, World Jewish Relief and the JDC to help victims of the recent earthquakes in Venezuela…
An anonymous donor sponsored four JCC professionals to attend the Wellspring Summit for Educators at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem earlier this month…
The Phyllis L. and Leonard J. Attman Foundation made a “generous” gift for an undisclosed amount to Israel Baseball to preserve and grow its youth clubs, build Tel Aviv’s first indoor facility, train local coaches and launch Israel’s first U12 national tournament…
Transitions
Hillel International appointed 20 new student leaders to its Student Cabinet for the 2026-27 school year…
Amy Sorensen Ben-Dov is leaving the Jewish Funders Network to join Crown Family Philanthropies as a program officer…
Hadar Institute hired Shana Bloom as its next vice president of strategy and program…
Jeff Schoenfeld and Ron Gonen joined the board of A Good Option…
Destiny Albritton is joining BZ Media as its new creative director…
David Anderson was selected to serve as commissioner on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom…
The Tepper Foundation’s Marni Schreiber is joining the Aspen Institute as a religion fellow…
Word on the Street
An array of Jewish and conservative organizations held a memorial ceremony for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC); attendees included: Betsy Berns Korn, the former AIPAC president and chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; Jewish Federations of North America CEO Eric Fingerhut; American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch; Dr. Miriam Adelson, the philanthropist and Republican megadonor; Israeli-American Council CEO Elan Carr; and Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad)…
Israel Police arrested three suspects in an alleged NIS 500 million ($164 million) money-laundering ring that used fictitious companies and nonprofits…
The College Democrats of America’s decision to platform far-left, antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker at its recent conference was “a direct threat to Jewish safety and inclusion,” the group’s Jewish Caucus said on Tuesday. Piker, who has a long-standing history of antisemitic rhetoric, was announced on Friday as the convention’s “surprise speaker,” just hours before it began, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
A new Gates Foundation review found that Bill Gates and representatives of his foundation met with Jeffrey Epstein about 30 times from 2011 to 2014 despite staff concerns…
The Times of Israel spotlights “Hakibbutz NYC,” an 18,000-square-foot Chelsea workspace opened by Israeli tech leaders Amir Wolner and Guy Franklin to give Israeli startups their first permanent base in the city…
The Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist reports that Israeli tech company Monday is cutting about 20% of its global workforce…
Israeli food-tech company Plantopia, which produces plant-based dairy products, announced it raised $9 million in a funding round led by Schreiber Foods and Siddhi Capital; the funds, the company said, will support a manufacturing facility near Haifa…
Glenn Yago argues in the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune that the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement has abandoned campus resolutions for ESG-style “controversy” scores that quietly push pension funds to divest from Israel, costing ordinary savers billions…
J. The Jewish News of Northern California highlights a debate among Jewish security officials over whether institutions should give police access to their security cameras…
Chabad of Bucks County (Pa.) marked the completion of Phase 1 of its PlayaRaya accessible recreational park with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for campers…
Philadelphia Jewish Exponent profiles a Jewish Philadelphia power couple, who met as kids at URJ Camp Harlam and now lead major Reform institutions — Rabbi Benjamin David at Congregation Keneseth Israel and Lisa David at URJ Camp Harlam…
Joel Rubin, who led Jewish outreach for Bernie Sanders‘ 2020 campaign, told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod that his former boss has become an “outright hostile actor” deliberately elevating anti-Israel and antisemitic candidates…
Pic of the Day
Workers from the Israeli international aid organization Natan deliver letters this week to Venezuelans displaced by the June 24 earthquakes that rocked the country, who have been staying at a refugee camp in La Guaira, Venezuela.
The letters were written by students from the state-religious Yehuda Halevy School in Jerusalem in a show of solidarity, one of the organizers of the initiative, Nadav Shifman Berman, told eJewishPhilanthropy.
Birthdays
Dustin Yellin, contemporary artist, he is the founder and director of Pioneer Works, a cultural institution in Brooklyn, turns 51
Gila Almagor, actor, prominent in Israeli theater, television and film, turns 87
Anthony Steen, British Conservative Party member of Parliament for 36 years until 2010, a leading figure in the fight against human trafficking in the U.K. and worldwide, turns 87
Judith Walzer Leavitt, historian, author and professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, turns 86
Philip Cohen, British biochemist and professor at the University of Dundee in Scotland, Sir, turns 81
Albert Brooks, actor, director and comedian, turns 79
Richard Martin Nodel, past president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Detroit, owner of Nodel Parks
Alan Menken, one of only 22 EGOT winners, including eight Academy Awards and 11 Grammy awards, pianist and composer of many Disney movie musical scores, turns 77
Hershel Boehm, owner of Baltimore’s Seven Mile Market
Terry Swartzberg, managing director of a German public affairs firm, he works to ensure that the Holocaust and its many victims are not forgotten, turns 73
Larry Gordon, publisher of The 5 Towns Jewish Times, turns 73
Amy Berman Jackson, judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia since 2011 (senior status since May 2023), Judge, turns 72
Michael Elliott Landsberg, Canadian sports journalist and mental health advocate, turns 69
Cindy Masters, member of the board of governors of the American Jewish Committee
David Jonathon Shulkin, secretary of veterans affairs in the first year of the Trump 45 administration, turns 67
Joyce Alene Vance, federal prosecutor for 25 years, she was the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama throughout the Obama administration, turns 66
Stevan Lieberman, founding partner of the D.C.-based intellectual property law firm Greenberg & Lieberman, turns 61
Evan Hansen, Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates since 2018, turns 60
David Shuster, television journalist and news anchor, now a host for The Young Turks on YouTube and Facebook, turns 59
Ben Cosgrove, CEO of Leviathan Productions, focused on Jewish history, folklore and literature
Warren Bass, Pentagon speechwriter during the Biden administration, now director of communications and senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Daniel A. Saltsman, owner of West Bloomfield, Mich.-based Saltsman Industries and Saltsman Financial Group
Jonathan Freeman, branch chief and senior advisor for policy and readiness at the U.S. Army
Elise Rachel Shutzer, vice president of public affairs at PhRMA
Rachel Wainer Apter, justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court, turns 46
Reid Cherlin, former White House assistant press secretary, now the executive editor for news and politics at Crooked Media
Andrew Grant Feinberg, White House correspondent at The Independent, turns 44
Andrew Keene, a Reform lay leader and founder of Esek – Supporting Israeli Small Businesses
Jason Guberman-Pfeffer, executive director of the American Sephardi Federation since 2014
Keegan Phillip Allen, actor best known for his role in the Freeform series “Pretty Little Liars,”, turns 37
Skyler Gisondo, actor, he played Jimmy Olsen in the 2025 version of “Superman,” turns 30
Maor Cohen, director at the Peterson Health Technology Institute
Yoela Palkin, serial entrepreneur, software consultant and product strategist in Silicon Valley
